Credit the organizational skills, creativity and perseverance of VISTA member Nicole Gearhart and her team of three VISTA members and 31 Retired and Senior Volunteer Program (RSVP) volunteers and their 2011 MLK Day of Service project for going from "zero to 5,000" in a few short weeks to support community appreciation for and improved mental health of deployed U.S. military personnel and service veterans.

Their "Valentines for Military Heroes" (VfMH) service initiative (a first Day of Service and collaborative effort for these CNCS groups) involved schoolchildren, senior citizens, community organizations, military families and general public from Michigan's Upper Peninsula in creating Valentine cards and messages of encouragement for active duty military and veterans.  The result: more than 5,000 Valentines were sent in late January to servicemen/women in Iraq and Afghanistan as well as other U.S. military bases and were delivered Feb. 14 to VA Hospital patients, veterans' home residents and regional veterans' service centers.

"VfMH" hosted three community Valentine-making events Jan. 17 in central U.P. counties (Delta, Dickinson, Menominee) that drew young and old alike. The project had its own distinctive logo (designed by Gearhart) and utilized the news media, social media (http://www.facebook.com/vfmh2011) and its own web site (a Gearhart product) to spread word of the project (resulting in inquiries from as far away as Connecticut!) and to involve other VISTA members serving in Upper Michigan.

Colorful, creative Valentine submissions flooded in from schools, retirement homes, service organizations and churches in local project counties and six others (Chippewa, Luce, Mackinac, Marquette, Schoolcraft and Marinette, WI). Gearhart, a former news photographer, documented the project in photos for the web site. The team enlisted help of local Armory officers and military families to get addresses of service personnel to receive Valentine packages and solicited local businesses, service organizations and individuals (more than 2 dozen) to donate Valentine materials as well as to "adopt a box" as overseas package sponsors. They raised $1,400+ in cash/in-kind donations to make the project self-supporting. The team established a "Valentine Central" among a dozen drop-off locations for receiving Valentines and consulted postal staff for advice on packaging/shipping cards and powdered water-flavoring packets to soldiers.

"Warms my heart," commented one young Army soldier in Iraq who received a box of Valentines for his unit and "read every single one of them."  A member of the "brass" at U.S. Army Africa base in Italy commented that the team's effort made an impact on his troops: "The Soldiers here work hard every day to prevent the spread of terrorism in Africa and deploy to austere regions of the continent, often in harm's way...Every little bit helps and you have certainly helped to improve morale here."

"We are very excited with the way people throughout the U.P. embraced this project -- we never expected it to get as big as it did," project coordinator Gearhart said in a media release. "We want to thank everyone who supported this project ... and to let them know that they really did make a difference for these troops."

VISTA and RSVP members were the minds and muscle behind every phase of "VfMH." The successful, visible project overcame several challenges in a very short window of time: having never worked together before, never participated before in Day of Service activities, need to capture public attention/participation following the Christmas-New Year holiday season (more than a month before Valentine's Day), and work within a wide range of community and military systems to establish a cohesive network for participation and success. "VfMH" impacted not only military recipients of Valentines but also thousands who were involved in or touched by the project stateside. For weeks, there was coverage in the media, positive community "buzz" about the project and at least one organization from the area copied their example with a card distribution to military for Easter.

As "VfMH" project initiator and its guiding force start-to-finish, we believe VISTA Nicole Gearhart deserves to be recognized with the CNCS Service Impact Award. Her Day of Service role is indicative of her strong commitment to VISTA service and dedication to volunteering to help others.